Murray Hickling

about this book: Chocolate Soldier - An Equestrian Rifleman's Story is about my experience as a young man coming of age in South Africa's Aparheid years. I was profoundly changed by my experience in the South African Defense Forces. Two years Military Service in the Angolan Border War changed me from a boy into a man. I wanted to share that with people, the harshness of the Special Forces training, but also the humour and the comradery that sustained us.

I hope Chocolate Soldier will allow you a glimpse into that world, the world of bewildered young boys sent far from home, to fight on the edge of the beautiful Namibian desert.

I wrote this to give voice to the thousands of men who served in the SADF, who did their duty by their country, some of whom never came home.

These are the men I'd like to reach: all the soldiers out there, from what ever country; fighting the desert and the enemy both within and without.